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With World Cup trophy. Dennis Schröder and coach Gordon Herbert. © IMAGO/greatif
The German basketball players managed to win the World Cup with a very special spirit. Choosing Team of the Year is only logical.
There are moments that define where a team’s path leads. The German national basketball team had this moment at the World Cup when Dennis Schröder and Daniel Theis wouldn’t stop arguing during a timeout in the preliminary round game against Slovenia. National coach Gordon Herbert became furious, pulled his captain Schröder by the arm and motioned for him to sit down, but he contradicted him. Herbert put Schröder and Theis on the bench and the score was 11:25 after the first quarter. A scene that could have broken the team after months of working toward a common goal. Shortly afterwards, Schröder and Theis, friends since their childhood days in Braunschweig, made up, showed the coach a reaction and clearly beat the Slovenians around NBA star Luka Doncic 100:71. In the dressing room, Herbert apologized to Schröder for pulling his arm – and everything was fine again.
Won all World Cup games
This spirit carried the team to the world championship title. An outstanding performance in a sport where there are so many top nations, where daily form decides between victory and defeat, the German basketball players won all eight World Cup games. A year earlier they narrowly failed in the European Championship semi-finals in their own country and won bronze. In the World Cup quarter-finals against Latvia, captain Schröder was a total failure, tried too hard on his own and almost lost the victory. The DBB selection was lucky that the last Latvian throw landed on the ring. Immediately after the final siren, all the players ran to their captain and cheered him up because they knew: without him they wouldn’t have gotten there. Herbert’s team achieved the highlight in what was probably the highest-class game in World Cup history against the top favorites USA with 113:111.
Choice athlete, female athlete and team of the year
Team of the year
1. Basketball national team, men 2539 votes
2nd national ice hockey team, men 1718
3. Hockey national team, men 1119
4. Track cycling team sprint, women 646
5th biathlon relay, women 409
6th cross-country skiing relay, women 395
7. Double-seater toboggan, Eggert/Benecken 350
8. Two-man bobsleigh, Lochner/Fleischhaue 224
9. Kayak foursome, men 135
10. Two-man Canadians, Kretschmer/Hecker 21
Female Athlete of the Year
1. Denise Herrmann-Wick ( Biathlon) 1276
2. Darja Varfolomeev (Rhy. Sportgymnastic) 1255
3. Katharina Althaus (ski jumping) 1208
4. Emma Hinze (cycling) 738
5. Anne Haug (Triathlon) 660
6. Leonie Beck (swimming) 643
7. Anna-Lena Forster (Para-Ski) 474
8. Laura Nolte (Bob) 470
9. Ricarda Funk (Kanuslalom) 331
10. Doreen Vennekamp (shooting) 183
Sportsman of the year
1. Lukas Dauser (gymnastics) 1753
2. Florian Wellbrock (swimming) 1062
3. Oliver Zeidler (rowing) 865
4. Eric Frenzel (Northern Combined) 747
5. Markus Rehm (para-athletics) 626
6. Felix Loch (tobogganing) 624
7. Alexander Schmid (alpine skiing) 606
8. Patrick Lange (Triathlon) 383
9. Taliso Engel (Para-Swimming) 246
10. Julian Schmid (Northern Combined) 224
The captain’s hour came in the final against the Serbs, who were coached by Svetislav Pesic. The coach who made Germany European champions in 1993, the only title for a German selection. The generation around megastar Dirk Nowitzki “only” won bronze at the 2002 World Cup in the USA and silver in Serbia and Montenegro in 2005. But Schröder wanted gold and scored the decisive points at 83 in the final phase of the final with his inimitable move to the basket :77 win.
“You are even better people than you are players,” Herbert told his team in the dressing room afterwards. Then the corks popped. The next hussar feat should succeed at the Olympic Games in Paris.
2023-12-17 20:21:51
#Moments #eternity
